Smirnoff - Diamond

This advert annoyed me so much that I wrote an essay on it for critical studies...

How could the connotations of the Smirnoff vodka – Diamond advert be perceived as manipulative to the viewer?

We live in a daily state of visual and verbal manipulation from advertising companies and product placement surrounding us wherever we look. On the one hand we live in a material world in which we are all influenced by advertising and made to desire and imagine - how much better our lives could be if we could just own that “insert product name here”. However, on the other hand it is unclear whether the advertisements instil a need in us to purchase the product or if we ourselves have created the need in the first place. Surely without a need there would not be a product created to fulfil the need? One of the reasons the term “advertising” carries such a pejorative cast is that it is seen as manipulative, aggressive, deceiving and sneaky but yet it is often clever, entertaining and amusing. One thing people find so disturbing about advertising is that when it is done well it is usually quite unnoticeable and we become lured into the trap of desiring without even realising. The use of advertising really comes into play when we have a range of products on offer that all do similar things and we have to make a choice about which to purchase. Advertising is used to help to persuade or in some cases dissuade us from buying one brand of product over another. When we break down an advert we can see the underlying messages and meanings which we realise are all placed purposefully by the advertiser as a means to manipulate us into buying their product. Advertising is used to create or intensify a feeling of desire in the viewer who would in turn, if the advert is successful, become a consumer of that product.

“Advertising often presents an image of things to be desired, people to be envied, and life as it “should be”… It is also a central strategy to invite viewers/consumers to imagine themselves within the world of the advertisement…

The product must acquire particular attributes, indicate a kind of lifestyle, and produce an image of it potential consumer.” Sturken M & Cartwright L, (2001), Practices of looking

The Smirnoff vodka - Diamond advert proposes two forms of lifestyle to the viewer. The first we encounter is a run down, dilapidated house situated in the middle of scrubland on the edge of a freeway. We meet the narrator five seconds into the advert and watch as he chokes to death on a crisp in a dreary, darkened room, as he sits unaccompanied watching day time television. He says in his own words:

“It was only when I died that life got interesting.”

We then meet the deceased’s brother Morton who sits alone on a church pew as his watches his brothers casket roll away to be cremated. The world that Morton and his brother inhabit is a predominantly dull, drab world in which life is mundane and difficult.

The second form of lifestyle offered by the advert is the world of Live On. The world created by Live On is clean and crisp using mainly whites, silvers and pale greys as their coloring. The use of a lot of over head lighting and open spaces creates a feeling of something better, a way of living that is far removed from the world of Morton and his brother.

The deceased man has or rather had a certain persona which has connotations of a gangster lifestyle. The deceased has a close resemblance to Tony Soprano played by James Gandolfini in the HBO production – The Sopranos. In the short time that we meet the narrator we see he is dressed in dark suit trousers, a pale blue shirt which lies open over a white vest top – a fashion, although easily obtainable, was often seen worn by similar character figures as members of the Sopranos cast. The use of these features and the overweight, balding actor all act as a signifier to the signified overtone of a gangster lifestyle.

“In Barthes’s model [of semiotics], in addition to the two levels of meaning of denotation and connotation, there is the sign, which is composed of the signifier, a sound, a written word, or image, and the signified, which is the concept evoked by that word/image.” Sturken M & Cartwright L, (2001), Practices of looking

The deceased, now narrator has a strong New York accent. The choice to use a New York accent in the narration again supports the feeling of a gangster lifestyle. It connotes a feeling of untrustworthiness upon the viewer and implies an underlying impression that something illegal and criminal may be occurring. This feeling is also supported by the shifty look upon Morton’s face throughout the entire advert. Morton, like his brother has an aura of the gangster lifestyle to him. This may be due to his appearance, his expression, mannerisms or purely due to the fact that he is associated with the deceased.

We can assume by the lack of people attending the funeral that the deceased was not a greatly popular man, also due to the fact of where his home is situated – in a place where it looks like there may once have been many houses which have since been torn down leaving only the narrators house standing. One thing that does not support the gangster lifestyle is the narration itself as one would assume that to be a gangster; one would have a highly charged and interesting life.

We enter Live On which is the world of Smirnoff, the advertisers have disguised it willingly as Live On – the fictional company but we all know as soon as we see the end of the advert and realise it is for Smirnoff vodka that the well lit, clean crisp world is a simili to Smirnoff; it also helps to tie in this advert with previous advertising campaigns run by Smirnoff. The advertisers are trying to create a myth (relating to Barthes’s (1972) terminology) in which they want to show us how not only could partaking in the consumption of Smirnoff vodka help to improve our lives and our prospects (meet beautiful women, escape our dull, drab lifestyles) but also (shown through the scene in the pawn shop, the expression of the broker and the amount of money the diamond was exchanged for) that by doing this we will have obtained something so exquisite and striking that others would pay dearly to acquire the same product.

During the scene in which the ashes are supposedly being transformed into a diamond it is possible to see the narrators face eerily spinning, flashing and gyrating around within the science equipment and liquid. The expression on his face is one of elation and euphoria as he is moved through these processes. The use of this imagery could relate to the physical and mental feelings upon the human form as it becomes intoxicated.

There is an American based company called Life Gem which, in fact, use the ashes of human cremation to create diamonds. Their schema focuses greatly on the aspect of loving relationships and creating a memorial in the form of a diamond for the family and friends of the deceased. In the Smirnoff advert is it possible to see that the creation of the diamond is, in reality created for the sole purpose of monetary gain for the deceased’s brother. We watch as Morton enters a pawn shop with his newly obtained trophy from Live On clutched in his hand. At this point in time the viewer has not been informed as to what the small red box contains although one can assume it is something precious. When the pawn shop owner opens the box and sees the contents he looks shocked and glances at Morton who continues his troubled expression. The pawn broker inspects the contents of the box which shines brightly onto his face, adding a feeling of awe and inquisitiveness upon the viewer. In the next scene a large stack of banknotes are placed upon the counter by the pawnbroker in receipt for the diamond, Morton thanks the broker and leaves the shop, with the money safely stashed away in his pocket.

The Life Gem Company creates gemstones by separating the carbon elements out of the human cremation remains and through excessive use of heat, pressure and time a diamond is created. Smirnoff vodka is filtered through layers of charcoal (carbon) which is made from birch trees, the process by which the diamond in the advert is created is said to be:

“They do some amazing things with carbon. Take two and a half pounds of human ash and if you sift, you sleush and you rinse time after time after time, ‘til you’ve dunked out all the nasties...”

The colloquial terms used by the narrator in the Smirnoff advert relate both to the creation of Smirnoff vodka and slightly to the creation of manmade diamonds. The terms used; “sift,” “sleush” and “rinse” relate to the processes the ashes go through to create the diamond (in the advert) however they are more relevant to the process of creating vodka which starts as a dry product (sift) which is transformed into a liquid (sleush) and then filtered through carbon (rinse). The advertisers have used two things that are known to be practiced in the industries they are relating to and have merged them together to create a half truth which is not a working process to either the creation of diamonds or the creation of vodka. The invention of this half truth allows the viewer to glance over the imagery passing before them and accept what they are seeing in terms of disregarding it – or rather not over analysing what they see before their eye is pulled to another scene.

One of the main features of manipulation in the advert is the way in which the moving image is used to create an alternative and distracting meaning to the narration. If we take the narration on its own, although in places images are needed to understand some of the content, there are semi-concealed and deceiving statements which can be interpreted in a very different manner to that which it appears to be first intended. There is one line in particular that relates to this:

“You can turn Mr Butt-Ugly into a girl’s best friend,”

This line does of course have connotations to diamonds which are commonly referred to as “a girl’s best friend”. However, when this line is associated to the promotion of buying and consuming alcohol it creates a deeper, more sinister meaning. There are many adverts and articles out there that talk about the lowering of inhibitions through excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and the problems this may cause. Purely

“Alcohol lowers inhibitions and makes you more relaxed. It makes it easier to talk to people and, although there is no scientific explanation, it also has the power to improve other peoples' appearance! [Alcoholic] Drink acts as an aphrodisiac” https://bathstudent.com, Alcohol

The advertisers have created a story in which they hope to achieve some form of relation between the targeted young adult, male audience and the characters within the advert. The reference to a gangster lifestyle relates to many cult and popular movies that appeal to a predominantly male audience. Movies such as The Godfather (1972), Scarface (1983), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and also more recent films for example Snatch (2000) and Layer Cake (2004) are all held within the same genre of Mafia related movies and carry similar denotations and connotations of the mobster lifestyle. The only female that features in the advert is a young, slim yet curvy, attractive woman who appears purely to entertain Morton while his brothers ashes are transformed. We see her welcome Morton upon entering Live On and we see her again briefly, standing in the company garden chatting with Morton. She is seen merely for the purpose of an attainable feature to the viewer and how they could spend their time with similarly attractive females if there were to partake in the Smirnoff “lifestyle.”

At no point during the advert do we see that Morton is charged anything for the proceedure the Live On scientists have performed. There is no show of anything changing hands other than the ashes to the scientist – which may hold sentimental values but little to no monetary value and in return Morton is presented with the diamond which holds a high monetary value which is evident when he takes it to the pawn shop and exchanges it for cash. As diamonds have such a high value it is unusual that there was no charge for the proceedure, however, it is just another form of deceptive advertising in which people are not made aware of how much a product costs but are made to focus on what lifestyle they could have if they owned the product. If this process works and the viewer goes on to purchasing the product featured, only then will they see what it will cost them to obtain that lifestyle.

One thing that is quite striking of this advert is the way in which it suggests that it is acceptable for the viewer to effectively sell a member of their family in order to gain the type of lifestyle that the advert proposes. In truth we do not know what it is that Morton will be using the money he received from selling the diamond for, the connotations of the gangster lifestyle and his persistent anxious expression could suggest that he is in difficulties and with the help of Live On (or rather as we now know it to be a simile for Smirnoff) he is able to possibly rectify his life.

It is only within the last few seconds of the advert that it becomes clear to the viewer of both what is in the small red box (51st second out of 60) and what the advert is meant to be promoting (55th second). This style of advertising is possible for Smirnoff to use due to the fact that they are a well established, well known and highly consumed product (“the world's No. 1 vodka with 122 million 9 litre cases sold in 2004 alone” www.findarticle.com Diageo’s spirits.) When the viewer finally does find out that the box contains a diamond the camera focuses in closely on it and the background changes quickly then the camera zooms out showing the diamond embedded in a woman’s second to front tooth. You see little more of this woman other than her mouth with is set in a wide, attractive smile. The fact that the diamond is placed in a tooth instead of a more usual setting of say a ring or necklace may seem a little bizarre but when we consider that the diamond could represent Smirnoff vodka we can see that the situation is not so strange. The advertisers are trying to relate the creation of the diamond (the underlying connotation that it represents Smirnoff vodka) to the expression of the woman (happy, smiling) and the placement of the diamond (vodka) into the mouth which has created this elated expression on the woman’s face.

To focus again on semiotics and Barthes’s theory of myth we can ask ourselves what is the myth the advertisers are trying to create with this advert? Possibly that if you buy our product you will be happy? (as with the smiling woman featured at the end.) Maybe the focus should not be on the fact that the diamond was created from the ashes of Morton’s brother but more so on the woman that bought the diamond (vodka) from the pawn shop (off licence) which was created by Live On (Smirnoff) and has made her happy when she consumed it. If Smirnoff were to re-assess and re-create this advert to that effect they would loose a great deal of the distraction happenings which they have used and the story would become much more confusing which would in turn make the viewers focus on the confusion and end up asking themselves “why is this advert so unusual?” and not “where can I buy that product?”

In conclusion there are many factors the creators of this advert have used that are manipulative to the audience; such as the use of text with underlying connotations and the distraction of moving image with a storyline that does not relate directly to the product and the music. In truth this advert is no more manipulative than many other adverts seen today. It may simply be the fact that the science of advertising has become one that appears to know us better than we know ourselves and so we feel manipulated but yet we still buy into the product and the desire for that product lifestyle and if we do not? Someone we know and admire probably will and so we will emulate them and again the advertising world is successful.

“Advertising has two prime objectives. One is to increase the number of customers who will buy the product. The other is to increase the amount of product those customers will buy.” Robinson J, (1999), The Manipulators.

oh how it angers me...